Shell
Sweetie’s mouth opened. In a split second, her brain sent a signal to her tongue and other muscles. Speak! Tell them that you’re not a changeling! Sweetie inhaled; the air was moving slowly, dense like syrup. Oxygen didn’t get to her lungs; sticky substance filled them, cutting it off.
Tell them anything! Just to snap her out of that trance!
Sweetie coughed, trying to get rid of the substance; push it out of her system, run as far away from the vile traces on the floor. She felt cold wind on her face and for a moment it seemed to her that she’d be able to speak.
The punch threw her on the floor. Her head slammed against the rock. Sweetie looked around. The cave was turning around her, but she could see orange blur running towards her. Next punch nearly blinded her. All the sounds drowned in the ringing in her ears. Gathering the remains of her strength, she looked at the assailant.
Scootaloo was smirking. A bloody streak was running down her face. She raised her hoof again.
“No!” Scootaloo screamed, kicking the darkness blindly. She sat on the floor, panting heavily and shuddering. The image of her own face was still present in front of her eyes. She touched her fur, realising that blood was still there, stale and stinky.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Ruby asked. “You kicked me, idiot!”
Scootaloo didn’t reply. The stench was overwhelming. The water in the maze was scarce and the whole group was barely distinguishable from each other because of the layer of dirt. Decaying blood, however, was assaulting Scootaloo’s nostrils, causing her to retch violently.
“If you puke on me, I’ll kill you,” Ruby muttered.
Scootaloo sobbed, dropping on the floor.
“Don’t even say such things to her!” Rumble gave Ruby a nasty glare. “Last thing I want is another murder.”
“She started.” Ruby shrugged. “I’m going back to sleep. I’m tired of running through that fucking tunnel for the whole day.”
“We should go soon,” Silver Spoon said. “Diamond can’t wait...”
“It’s still dark,” Rumble replied. “We’ll go as soon as we can see something.”
Boysenberry cleared her throat. The sound echoed through the corridor like Scootaloo’s scream earlier. She stood up and trotted somewhere.
“Somepony stop her,” Ruby muttered. “That retard’s gonna bring some spider ducks to keep our company.
Boysenberry, however, turned back to the rest of the group, walked to Ruby and lifted her hoof to her face.
“I get it,” Ruby said, pushing Boysenberry’s hoof away. “You stink. We all do. Nopony gives a shit, except maybe Scootaloo and our little heartbroken Diamond Tiara’s pet.”
Silver Spoon trotted to Ruby. Before Ruby turned to face her, Silver raised her hoof and punched her, sending her tumbling on the floor. “Don’t call me that...” she whispered.
Boysenberry walked to Silver. “Slime,” she muttered, showing her hoof to her. Silver grabbed it and winced.
“There’s more on the floor,” Scootaloo said. It was slowly getting lighter and they could now see the glistening mess on the floor. It was still green in some place, but most of it was stale and greyish white.
“A wounded changeling was here,” Rumble said, staring at the trace leading down the corridor. “I wonder where it went...”
“Probably where this trace leads,” Ruby muttered, getting from the ground. “Or it just went to get a snack. A fat, pink one...”
Silver Spoon walked to Ruby. “Still not having enough?” she asked, clenching her hoof.
“Fuck off,” Ruby muttered. “I’ll go with you – guided by a retard down a path of changeling slime. Fucking adventure of my life.”
“Let’s go then,” Rumble said. “It’s getting lighter. We’d better hurry.”
Ruby shrugged and walked behind Boysenberry, who hopped down the corridor. Slime was everywhere – large spots were on the floor and once or twice they encountered a smear on the wall.
“The changeling was resting here,” Scootaloo muttered, pointing at the wall. Apart of slime, they found a symbol there, scratched in the wall.
“Do you think the guys who built that maze left it?” Silver Spoon asked, watching the symbol.
“No,” Rumble replied. “It looks like a changeling queen to me. Not to mention that there’s chitin here, in the scratches. The changelings did it.”
“I wonder what they meant by that,” Scootaloo said. “Queen save us?”
Boysenberry stood in front of the sign and nodded. “Just as we put our hopes in Celestia, they put theirs in their queen.”
“And we’re equally fucked.” Ruby shrugged. “Well, at least they have better food.”
Silver Spoon shuddered and trotted further down the corridor.
The tunnel was getting more narrow, its ceiling barely above their heads. Scootaloo looked around and sighed. She thought of Sweetie Belle’s body lying where they’d left it, next to Dinky, Featherweight, and the changelings. She felt a chill running down her spine – just like many pegasi, she didn’t like closed spaces.
“Few more days in here and I’ll be like Boysenberry...” Scootaloo muttered to herself.
“What did you say?” Ruby asked. “Don’t even dare to be like that idiot. Who’ll kill our next enemy?”
Scootaloo stopped and looked at Ruby. “I kinda feel like following Silver Spoon. Don’t make me do that.”
“Bitch,” Ruby muttered. “Yeah, beat me all because you can. I don’t mind anymore. Or maybe you’ll kill me, just like you did to Sweetie Belle?”
Scootaloo raised her hoof, but lowered it. “You’re right,” she said, lowering her head. “I won’t be like you...” She walked away from Ruby.
“Are you done?” Rumble asked. “Let’s go.”
The corridor seemed to have no end. It wasn’t perfectly circular – it resembled a narrow oval, causing their eyes to mislead them. After each turn, they usually found themselves trying to walk onto the wall. It seemed to spiral slightly downwards, although they soon found that walking through it was tiring, as if they were climbing.
Occasionally, the could see the greenish spots of changeling’s slime on the floor and walls. They were getting smaller the longer they walked. Most of them were old – green was slowly being replaced by grey and the surface below them was blackened by acid.
“Seems that this changeling bled out,” Silver Spoon muttered.
“Or it got better,” Rumble added. “What if it’s still alive?”
“We’ll fight it,” Silver Spoon replied, glaring into the dark tunnel.
“Two changelings, three ponies.” Boysenberry’s monotone voice caused Silver Spoon’s heart to stop for a moment. “One changeling... One and half pony.”
“What are you talking about?” Scootaloo asked, poking Boysenberry. Boysenberry didn’t react.
“It’s simple.” Ruby smirked. “Retard tries to say we killed two changelings, but three of us died. If we kill one more, one and half of us will died.” She shrugged. “Hope that by ‘half’ Retard means herself.”
“Ruby!” Scootaloo exclaimed. Ruby only shrugged.
Suddenly, the corridor ended, widening into a large cave. Gems were shining in the walls, filling it with otherworldly light. Several stalactites were hanging from the ceiling. The walls were covered with a thin layer of ice.
In the middle of the cave, there was a changeling. It was lying on its side, fangs barred. Its eyes were devoid of their shine; grey and faded, they were barely distinguishable from the changeling’s chitin cover.
“Is it dead?” Silver Spoon asked, walking through the cave. A large gash could be seen in the changeling’s side, torn muscles and some strange tubes visible in it.
“It looks like it,” Ruby whispered, walking as far from the changeling as possible. “Those things should be, like, inside. But I wouldn’t touch it.”
“Wonder what happened to it,” Rumble muttered. “I wouldn’t want to meet it.”
“Not only us fought back,” Boysenberry said in monotone, walking to the changeling and pointing at something stuck in one of the holes in its hoof. Rumble trotted to her and, shuddering, reached for it.
The changeling didn’t move. Rumble retched and backed away. Only when he was far from the corpse, he saw that he was holding a piece of brown leather. Some black and white hair had stuck to it. It smelled of sweat, blood, and changeling’s slime.
“Someone killed it,” Rumble said. “Someone wearing leather outfit.”
“Hope they didn’t get killed too,” Scootaloo added, watching the piece of leather. “Maybe it was a zebra?”
“Looks like it.” Silver Spoon nodded.
Ruby trotted to the other end of the cave and looked at the rest of the group. “Before you start to chase imaginary zebras, maybe you’d concern yourselves with those?” she asked, pointing at the dark shapes hanging from the cave’s ceiling.
The rest of the group looked in that direction. Two irregularly-shaped cocoons made of dark green substance were hanging there, dangling slightly in the draught.
Silver Spoon’s face paled. She gulped before saying, “Do you think it could be...”
“There’s only one way to know.” Rumble spread his wings and flew to the cocoons. He saw that they were made of two layers of thick, leather-like substance. Between them, a green fluid was flowing lazily, like molasses. Both the walls and the fluid were slightly transparent; Rumble could see some dark outline inside.
“We need to free them!” Rumble exclaimed, grabbing the cocoon and trying to tear it off the ceiling. It gave up surprisingly easily, causing him to lose balance and drop to the cave floor in an uncoordinated manner.
“You okay, Rumble?” Scootaloo asked, running to him.
Rumble nodded and grabbed a sharp piece of rock. He hit the cocoon with it, but his hoof bounced off it without making any harm to the leathery envelope. Scootaloo joined him, banging at it with her hooves and all the rocks she could find. Silver Spoon kicked it with her hind legs. They bounced off, causing her to fall on her face.
“You’re doing it wrong,” Ruby muttered, charging her horn. A beam of magic cut a large gash in the envelope. Green fluid flowed from it, smoking slightly and blackening the stones. The foals tore the envelope to get to the inner layer, tightly binding the pony inside. It was much thinner and Silver Spoon tore it off with ease.
Diamond Tiara rolled from the remains of the envelope. Her eyes were closed and her coat was soaked in the strange substance that had been filling the cocoon. She lay on the ground motionless.
“Diamond Tiara!” Silver Spoon ran to her.
Diamond Tiara shuddered and screamed, suddenly losing control over her bladder. She opened her bloodshot eyes for a moment, only to scream again and shield them with her hooves. Silver Spoon hugged her. Diamond Tiara’s hooves clenched around her; she buried her face in Silver’s fur, screaming and wailing.
“Are you okay, Diamond?” Rumble asked.
“She can’t see.” Boysenberry shrugged. “Not much light inside.”
“The... fluid...” Diamond Tiara moaned, panting heavily. “Draining... Zip... longer...”
“Let me handle it,” Ruby muttered, trotting to the second cocoon. She hit it with her magic, rupturing it and causing a vaguely pony-shaped lump to fall from it. She grabbed it with her magic and put it on the floor.
“Zipporwhill!” Scootaloo trotted to the pegasus filly. Boysenberry followed her.
Unlike Diamond Tiara, Zipporwhill wasn’t thrashing or screaming. She was lying on the floor, motionless, breathing quickly. Her wings were spread limply. Her eyes were closed; bent frame of her glasses was covering them. The lenses were missing, save from a few shards of glass still in the frame.
“Don’t open your eyes,” Scootaloo muttered, patting Zipporwhill’s mane. “Do you remember anything?”
Zipporwhill didn’t reply.
Diamond Tiara’s spasmodic breath calmed down a bit. “They caught us,” she said, still holding Silver Spoon tightly. “The changelings...” Tears flowed down her face. “That fluid... It was slowly draining... everything from us.” She coughed and threw up some of the green slime. Silver Spoon held her mane as she was retching.
“What do you mean by everything?” Rumble asked, looking at Zipporwhill unsurely.
“E-emotions,” Diamond Tiara replied, sobbing. “Force... magic... I don’t know. T-they were f-feeding on her more...”
“Indeed.” Zipporwhill said in an emotionless voice. Everypony froze, hearing it. “But Sweetie ran away.”
“I– I was hoping she’d find you,” Diamond Tiara said. “I can’t hear her... Where’s she?”
The whole cave went silent. “She’s dead,” Ruby whispered after a while.
Diamond Tiara sobbed loudly, sinking her face in Silver Spoon’s coat.
“So, there are only seven of us now,” Zipporwhill stated simply, trying to get on her hooves. “Somepony needs to guide me till I can see again. Where are we going?”
Scootaloo looked at her unsurely. “Are you okay, Zip?”
“What do you mean?” Zipporwhill asked. “I was always like that.”
“Diamond Tiara can’t walk yet.” Silver Spoon stood up. “We were running to save you... We need some rest.”
Zipporwhill stood for a moment, scratching her mane. “I will wait.”
“If I were you, I would not stay here,” a voice echoed through the cave.
They looked around. Silver Spoon shielded Diamond Tiara with her body, while Rumble and Scootaloo stood on both sides of Boysenberry, ready for everything.
A tall zebra colt emerged from a narrow tunnel behind the place where the cocoons had been hanging. He stretched his legs and looked at the seven ponies, smirking. He was wearing a torn leather vest with a spear strapped to his back.
“Don’t be afraid,” he said. “My name is Uwazi. I see that there is still lots of you... And I would not stay here because those stalactites can sometimes fall on your head. That is how we lost Uvumilivu.”
“What do you mean?” Ruby asked, aiming her horn at him. “How did you get there?”
Uwazi lowered his head. “There were twenty of us here,” he muttered. “I am the last one.”
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Yay! Chapter! And poor Scoots having a nightmare.
I love this story so much.
A new character? That's awesome! By the way where's the poem guy? I love those after chapter poems
5949912
I don't know. I've seen him around, but he didn't comment on the last few chapters.
Hopefully, this new character will give us a begining of explanation about the maze. We want some responses.
5950292
Well, he can always be completely nuts...
5950305 Or have some answers. I'm starting to believe we will Never know why they are trap in the maze.
5951414
Don't worry, at least some of the things will be explained. Until then, you're free to guess.
Btw, an inside joke Bootsy and I have is that this place is in fact a big tennis balls factory.
5951797 you want guessing, I will give you guessing.
The changeling have been anihilated, that's why they try to convert DT and Zip with the cocoon. It's too laye for Zipper, she has already join the hive and got bug eyes, that's why she doesn't open them. She will start some killing in the next chapter.
Also DT will become a weep cuz changelings have feed on her narcisic love.
5951987
That's an interesting theory. And partially true.